Theory Construction - Social Research Methods - Lecture Slides, Slides of Sociology

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Theory Construction

1. Creativity
2. Logical fallacies
3. Theory construction

Science is a creative enterprise

• Looking at some old data in a new way
• To see things in a different light = to see things at a more meaningful, theoretical level
• To be creative, means to do something new, to have a different thought about the way things work

Example

• For a long time offenders and victims were believed to be two distinct groups of individuals
• Data from the UCR and NCVS indicate that, like their offenders, victims of serious violent crimes are disproportionably male, African American, young, single, (i.e., never married, separated, or divorced), and have low socioeconomic status.

New view at victims

• The same individuals tend to be both victims and offenders
• Offenders are also likely to be more attractive targets for crime because they can be victimized with little chance of legal consequences
• They are reluctant to report victimization because they do not want to attract attention of the police to their own illegal activities because they are more likely to become victims of crime while committing other felonies
• “Offender-victims” are less likely to call the police because they are lacking trust to the police

VanGundy (1992)

• Our major problem is in our own assumptions about what is and is not permissible
• Typically these assumptions serve well, but when it comes to research or trying to be creative, they get in the way
• Thinking outside the box

Example (VanGundy, 1992)

• “A car is parked on a straight road facing west. A man gets into the car and begins driving. After traveling for a while, he finds that he is east of this starting point. How can this be?”

Solution(s)

• Most people assume that he man will drive forward
• He could just easily have put car in reverse and backed away
• He may have made a U-turn and struck out for the sunrise
• Also, he might have just driven around the world

Consider the figure below

• How many squares does it contain?

Solution

• Sixteen small squares
• One large outer square
• Four 3 x 3 squares
• Nine 2 x 2 squares

Answer

• “Once in a while”

The “nine dots” puzzle

• The challenge is to connect the dots by drawing four straight, continuous lines, and never lifting the pencil from the paper.

Solution

• The puzzle is easily solved, but only if you draw the lines outside of the confines of the square area defined by the nine dots themselves. Thus, the phrase "thinking outside the box" was born

In-the-box thinkers

• In-the-box thinkers are skillful at killing ideas
• They are masters of the creativity killer attitude such as "that'll never work" or "it's too risky"

In-the-box thinkers

• They also believe that every problem needs only one solution; therefore, finding more than one possible solution is a waste of time
• They often say, "There is no time for creative solutions. We just need THE solution."

Outside the Box

Thinking outside the box requires different attributes that include:

• Willingness to take new perspectives
• Openness to do different things and to do things differently.
• Focusing on finding new ideas and acting on them.
• Listening to others.
• Supporting and respecting others when they come up with new ideas

Sources of Ideas

• Curiosity about things is the source of all research
• Curiosity alone may be too diffuse; it needs to be given focus and direction
• Look for evidence on the validity of explanation

Example

• A. Brill, a Freud’s colleague, developed a hypothesis that ….”what appears to be telepathic communication between two people in the same setting may be explained by their simultaneously seeing someone in the environment that independently triggers the same thought in each.” (Freud, 1938)

Observation

• The necessity for careful observation can hardly be overemphasized particularly when dealing with human behavior
• We ignore whole chunks of the behavior around us
• Well-trained habits of observations can be more important in research that a great store of academic knowledge

Anecdote (Beveridge, 1957)

• A Manchester physician, while teaching a ward class of students took a sample of diabetic urine and dipped a finger in it to taste it. He then asked all the students to repeat his action. This they reluctantly did, making grimace, but agreeing that it tasted sweet. “I did this,” said the physician,…” to teach you the importance of observing detail. If you had watched me carefully you would have noticed that I put my first finger in the urine but I licked my second finger”.

Obstacle to accurate observation

• People see and remember only what they expect to see
• Have you developed an expectation that no matter which line you get in at the bank (or grocery checkout), it will be the slowest- moving line?

Optical illusions

• Reinforce the point that we may be mistaken about what we think we see.

Optical illusions

ab=bc

Optical illusions

The tops of the two boxes are identical in size and shape

The three cylinders are all of the same size

Observation and inference

• There are many other kinds of observation errors
• They may lead to errors of reasoning